The present invention relates to storage cabinets such as medicine cabinets. More particularly it relates to improvements in positioning and storing electrical wiring for these cabinets, and power cords for appliances and other items stored in the cabinet.
It is conventional to provide wall-hung “medicine” cabinets in homes that are used to store cosmetics, drugs, and other personal items. Some of these cabinets are provided with electrical power (e.g. to light the cabinet itself and/or to provide a plug-in site for personal care devices such as hair dryers, curling irons, toothbrushes and shavers). See generally U.S. Pat. No. 5,355,627.
Most such cabinets have their front door pivot open on a vertical hinge. However, some provide a front door that slides vertically. See e.g. U.S. Pat. No. 2,331,655.
Regardless, the structures used to house the needed electrical wiring for electrified medicine cabinets were not optimal. For example, when a pivoting front door was provided, and the door was open, the mirror on the front of the door was no longer easily usable. Hence, an electrical plug-in outlet associated with such a cabinet would therefore typically be placed on the exterior of the cabinet. This is not only somewhat ugly, it exposes the outlet to an environment where water is more likely to be present.
Further, placing the outlet at some locations in such a cabinet could interfere with storage capability in an undesirable way. In any event, typical medicine cabinets were not well suited for dealing with elongated power cords associated with some consumer appliances that were not in use.
Accordingly, there exists a need for improving such storage cabinets in addressing these concerns.